Stimulating School Improvement Or

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StimulatingSchool Improvement!!Or

• Harvey Perkins
• John Hodge
• The Urban Learning and Leadership Center
• March, 2009

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Dont Confuse Your School Improvement Plan
withSchool Improvement!!
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School improvement corollaryIf we develop a
beautiful school improvement plan that meets the
state guidelines, but does not produce meaningful
school change, did we have school improvement?
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Truth or Dare?

• Is your school improvement plan a vehicle for
  faculty dialogue around best practices and the
  means of cultural and instructional renewal in
  your school?

OR
Is it an annual chore that allows you to put
another check in the box of the bureaucracy and
move on with business as usual?
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Two Faces of School Leadership in a Professional
Learning Community
Cultural Development
Program Management

• Macro
• Mission, Vision, Values Driven
• Primary
• Stable
• Internal Locus of Control

• Micro
• Goals Data Driven/
• School Improvement Plan
• Secondary
• Dynamic
• External Locus of Control (in a high stakes
  testing environment)

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Well, what are schools supposed to be?

• Places for teaching and learning?
• Places for transmission of culture, societal
  values, individual values?
• Places for development of responsible citizens?
• Most of these concepts are found in the mission
  statements of the majority of American schools.

ALL of the Above!!
ULLC
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Many school improvement efforts today are
fragmented, addressing only part of their stated
mission.
This problem has become more acute in this era
of high stakes testing!
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The S.A.M.E. Pathway
How members of the school community engage in
teaching and learning
Academic environment
Moral environment
Social environment
What members of the school community believe
How members of the school community behave
Distributed Leadership Culture
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The S.A.M.E. Pathway
Academic environment
Adults
Moral environment
Students
Social environment
Adults
Adults
Students
Students
Distributed Leadership Culture
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ActivityConsider all three environments from
the SAME model. List 1 or 2 ideas which, if
implemented in your schools, would significantly
impact teaching and learning.(Share out when
prompted)
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Readiness questions for SIP planning

• Given the mission of our school, what are
  indicators of excellence for our students/our
  teachers?
• How can we measure growth towards these
  indicators?
• Do the indicators address students approaching
  proficiency as well as challenge those who have
  surpassed proficiency?

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Team time

• With members of your SIT, discuss what indicators
  of excellence reflect the outcomes you desire for
  your students and staff, e.g. what indicators
  measure lifelong learners, responsible citizens,
  high academic achievement for all, continued
  professional growth, collaborative lesson design,
  etc.

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SoLets get started!How do you feel about this
process definition for your SIP?Our SIP clearly
articulates the goals, objectives, and strategies
to make this school a more productive place for
teaching and learning next year, and it presents
a clear implementation and monitoring strategy.
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Lets reflect on our current School Improvement
Process!(See Taking our SIP Pulse!)
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ActivityScore the process and product of your
current SIP. Share with your table group any
items below 3 on your score. Look for common
areas of concern at your table.
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Lets now explore a vehicle to transform an
over-burdened bureaucratic document into a viable
action plan for school growthULLC Six Steps to
SIP Planning
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Non-Negotiables for a Quality SIP

• Student achievement focus-beyond process measures
  to product measures
• Meticulous data analysis
• Input from all stakeholders
• Targeted focusless is more!!
• Tenacious monitoring for consistent delivery
• Communication and celebration!

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ULLC Design for SIP DevelopmentSix Critical
Steps

• Data Capture and Reporting
• Data Analysis
• Goal/Objective Setting
• Strategy/Action Plan Development
• Monitoring and Adjusting
• Communicating the Plan

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Step I. Data Capture and Reporting

• Historical data yields new direction!
• Some folks LOVE data-use them!
• Data Capture is a technical skill Data Reporting
  is leadership skill!
• Display of data should tell YOUR story and
  challenge your staff!
• The state template is for organizing your data
• it may not be the best way to tell your story.

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Data CaptureMuch Has Been Done!

• The state has provided many valuable test results
  reports for i-LEAP, LEAP, OR GEE, such as
• School roster report
• School performance report
• School Achievement level report
• School economic status subgroup report
• School subgroup/Education classification report
• School special education exceptionality report

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How Do I Display the DataBar, Pie, or Line
Graph ???
Trend Data (comparisons over time)
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Targeted Test Areas How Do I Display the
DataBar or Line Graph ???
Trend Data (comparisons over time)
Part to Part Comparison (i.e. subtests)
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Team Time 1.Discuss how you can use your data
displays to tell your story. 2. Where are your
data gurus with graphics capabilities? 3.
When and where do you need to tell your story?
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II. Data Analysis

• Purpose is two-fold
• celebration
• How can you use your data analysis results for
  celebration?
• When should this occur?
• How can celebration be motivational for next
  years SIP?
• purpose/performance dissonance
• Should your SIT consider the deliverables in your
  mission statement as it develops your SIP goals?
• Is your mission statement alive?
• How does data analysis and mission, when taken
  together, provide a vehicle for change?

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Data Analysis

• Total team involvement
• At some point in the process, all staff members
  need to get their hands into the data!
• How does getting a report from the SIT differ
  from sifting through the data yourself?
• Types of analysis (different lens!)
• Trend analysis
• Program/strategy analysis
• Content analysis
• Instructional asset analysis
• Student performance analysis

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Dont forget to use qualitative data as well as
quantitative data to triangulate your analysis!
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III. Goal and Objective Setting

• Must reflect the state goals
• Goal statement needs assessment
• objective strategy activity
  direct line of sight!!
• Create no more objectives than you can and will
  tenaciously monitor!

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Direct Line of Sight!

• Goal By 2013-2014, all students will reach high
  standards, attaining proficiency or better, in
  mathematics.
• Needs Assessment
• By the end of the 2008-2009 school year, 48 of
  ____________Middle School eighth grade students
  had attained proficiency or better in mathematics
  on LEAP.
• 54 of white students attained this goal while
  38 were African-American.
• Objectives By the end of the 2009-2010 school
  year, LEAP mathematics proficiency in grade 8
  will increase from 48 to 70.
• By the end of the 2009-2010 school year, LEAP
  mathematics proficiency for African-American
  students in grade 8 will increase from 38 to 60.

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Team time

• With members of your SIT..
• Review each goal area to ensure a direct line of
  sight from data analysis to objective to action
  strategy
• Ensure that goals and objectives are consistent
  with local, state, and national benchmarks.

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IV. Strategy/Action Plan Development

• Where would you be if your physician diagnosed
  your illness accurately, but gave you an
  ineffective or inappropriate prescription?
• Your team must expand its knowledge base before
  prescribing the solution set!

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Strategy/Action Plan Development

• Benchmark successful teachers
• Find model schools or programs
• Contact your curriculum coordinator (if
  applicable)
• Research your target area (regional offices are a
  good source)
• Contact university personnel
• Web Research (www.esrlink.com)

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Strategy/Action Plan Development

• How many strategies are enough?
• Select 1-3 action steps per objective
• Select no more than you can TENACIOUSLY MONITOR!
• Institutionalized practices vs. new SIP
• Take the I-S-E challenge!
• The preamble solution!

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V. Monitoring and Adjusting

• What gets measured gets done!
• Monitor the process (are we consistently
  implementing our strategies?) as well as the
  product (what interim data do we need to collect
  to determine the effectiveness of the strategy?)
• If the horse you are riding dies, get off!

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Monitoring and Adjusting

• Timeline
• Not Sept-June!!
• This should reflect the report dates for the
  action step!
• Indicator of Implementation
• What is the OBSERVABLE change you desire?
• Evaluation Procedures
• What evidence will you accept that the action
  step is really being done?
• Think creatively use existing sources dont
  create a reporting nightmare!

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VI. Communicating the Plan

• Internal and external communication
• Use regular communication tools (daily/weekly
  bulletins, newsletters, etc.) to keep the plan
  alive!
• Structure existing meetings (grade level, team
  and department) around the plan strategies
• Promote your improvement culture with parents
  and business partners!

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Can Your Action Planpass the Elevator Speech
test?
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SIP as a bureaucratic chore!
Teachers
Administrators
Student Achievement
Parents
Students
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SIP as a tool for cultural change!
Student Achievement
Teachers
Parents
Administrators
Students
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After the Final RoseSite Visits

• School improvement in schools engaged in
  re-structuring is a collaborative effort between
  district and school based leadership. The purpose
  of site visits is to allow district personnel to
  engage in dialogue with the SIT and the school
  administration to achieve a deeper understanding
  of building issues and the teams rationale for
  the action plans in use. use.

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District Advantages

• To gain a firsthand knowledge of the school
  improvement efforts of the school based
  leadership teams
• To facilitate networking between schools
• To share best practices for increasing student
  achievement between schools throughout the
  district
• To provide support services to assist schools in
  achieving their stated goals and objectives.
• To assist in long range budget development and
  professional development planning consistent with
  school needs

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School Advantages

• To celebrate successes in student achievement
• To engage in professional dialogue around school
  improvement planning
• To receive support as appropriate from district
  personnel for school based reform efforts
• To receive assistance in school improvement
  planning in such areas as data analysis, action
  step planning, and program monitoring.

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Leading and Sustaining School Change Efforts

• Distributed leadership training
• Site based coaching
• Networking for excellence

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• Harvey W. Perkins,
• CEO
• John W. Hodge,
• Vice-President
• 757-766-5234
• www.ullc.org